On with the show

Alright so, last week's patch notes were deemed fake by most sources. If you really pay attention to the details I guess it should be obvious. Still, it's a fairly well done list.

MMOC has posted some slightly more authentic class highlights for 3.1 so be sure to have a look 'n see. For the rogues among us, there's a DPS buff promised. The actual difference in damage remains to be see, but at least it's a buff and not another nerf.

Hunger for Blood – instead of a self-buff, this ability can only be used when there is a bleed effect on the target. However, it has no stacks and grants a 15% damage bonus.

Killing Spree – while this ability is active, the rogue does 20% additional damage.

Savage Combat – now causes 2/4% physical damage done.

Mace Specialization – this talent now grants haste in addition to armor penetration.

Mace spec, seriously... Do any "good" maces even exist at this point in time?

Seasons turning

There's also news of Arena Season 6 starting with 3.1, and a second Archavon-like boss being added to allow the PvE players to compete. A good initiative Imo as I really can't be arsed with broken arenas against the continuous Pally+DK teams.

Wintergrasp balance has really been broken with 3.0.8 sadly. Here on Aszune we managed to have about 50-50 division of the ownership of the zone before the patch... After the patch it's become more like 80-20 in favour of the alliance who outnumber us 2-1.

I blame the reasoning to this to the mandatory splitting of the raidforce. Defenders now have to split to defend the towers "all the way over" to the south, while attackers also need to split. That's all fine if both factions are balanced, but in the case of an obvious majority such as we suffer on Aszune.... Ugh... The alliance definitely has an advantage.

Hardware

I was going to post a big list with about 10 or 20 different headsets that I'm needing to pick one from. (As the current one's left ear and microphone are broken due to a snag in the cable) But it's taking too much time :P

So, I simply ordered a Plantronics 770. The price was a bit more than I paid for the old model (45 euros vs 29), but it's still a mile cheaper than the Sennheisser Pc-350, Razer megalodon, or Logitech G35 which is not even released yet. The Steelseries 5h v2 was a close runner up on my list, which was only slightly more expensive than the Plantronics one. What sort of headset do you guys use then?

And check this puppy out. No I don't have one, I'm quite happy with the G5 from logitech. But seriously, that's a pretty expensive mouse right there.

Poll End

The results of the old one: How much do you raid?

0 - 4 hours a week - 33 (24%)

5 - 10 hrs / week - 29 (21%)

11 - 20 hrs / week - 44 (32%)

21 - 30 hrs / week - 12 (8%)

31 - 40 hrs / week - 4 (2%)

More !! Raiding is my job. - 14 (10%

More people should really use that vote button, them numbers were really too low to get an accurate result. But still, shorter hours are the preference. And I'll assume those who voted the last option weren't being wholly serious!

New poll!

Have you received GoldSpam this week?

It's been pretty clean for weeks at the end of TBC and most of WotLK, but it seems that goldspam has started making a comeback. I've had crap sent to me by mail, by whisper, and suspect they'll soon be printing their damn crap on the Zeppelin to Orgrimmar as well.

Not to mention the goldspam here in comments on the blog. I delete them when I find them, but it seems not all new comments on old posts trigger the notification...

Some random stuff

Whirled. You've probably seen the button on the right side already. It's not so much a game as it is more of a gaming community. They allow developers to upload flash games which people can then play for "coins" and trophies. You got the option to design your own virtual home, change avatars, chat or hang out. It's too much to really be viable for alt-tabbing during raids, but still interesting enough to give you a diversion from time to time. Be sure to try out the games: Brawler, tetris, corpse craft, qbeez, warrior's end, the magic pen and a recent favourite "law and disorder".

Something else, that's perhaps better suited to fill your time while waiting for the inevetable AFK player or mass-toilet break during raids would be Billy vs Snakeman or BvS for short. The name is silly, sure, but it's pretty entertaining so far, and a definite twist from most other browser-rpgs that i've seen so far.

My first reaction to the game was, meh, yet another one. At a second glance the game seems almost overwhelmingly complex! Luckily there's a wiki where you can find most of the answers to any oddities you run into, and the FAQ is detailed as well. Give it a try, if you've regularly got some minutes to spare it's a good way to kill time. Let me know if you want to have a duel some time ;)

5
comments

I'm using a Steelseries 5H v/2 myself - it came highly recommended by my brother who hangs on Ventrilo with a few friends of his almost continously when home. It's served me quite well so far, though it's hard to have an external impression of how good the mic is.

I think my brother has since moved on to either a Plantronics or Sennheisser set however - don't recall which, it's one of them.

As for the Steelseries MMO mouse - it's got issues coming out of its ears, most notably that it seems like the left mouse button has a desire (or tendency, or constant desire for some) to stick and be unclickable. Which is a pity because the idea is cool, but the execution is.. well.. lacking.

Yeah I was pondering buying either the steel or the plantronics. Wend with the plantronics in the end as the delivery time was listed to be 2-3 days rather than the steel which had a delivery time of up to 3 weeks on most sites here.... uff.

Logitech's always been pretty good with mice. I had a razer once but I can tell you I'm never buying one of those again >_<

I have yet to find a headphone/mike setup that doesn't hurt my ears after a couple of hours. I've purchased 6 of them so far...sigh

As for gold, I just do not understand Blizzards stance on this. The reason the spammers are there is because there is a demand. With all the changes like free leveling, Blizzard can't say that purchasing gold will undermine the experience. Since most things at the high end are rep-based or honor-based, allowing someone to purchase 20,000 gold doesn't instantly make them a winner and people who can't afford it have no chance.

If Blizz had an official way to buy gold, these guys would dissapear. I would love to be able to buy gold for my friends as birthday/christmas presents

I use the 770 and have for a year and a half with only one issue. The bit holding the mic in place is lose, still connected and works great, just won't stay in place. Otherwise it is a great headset to were for large amounts of time, very comfy and good quality.

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